Depression can carry a stigma of being a privileged person's disease. That stigma not only hurts those treated for it, it may also be preventing other people from getting proper medication for depression.

The UM researchers also found that doctors prescribe antidepressants more often to people with private insurance than those on Medicaid. White people were also more likely to be prescribed newer more expensive drugs.

"We want the policy to motivate physicians to adhere to clinical practice guidelines better. Health disparities, especially with ethnic groups, can be helped with better access to healthcare and by having more insured people.

Of course, the problem is multi-fold. While physicians may be treating different groups of patients differently, internalized prejudices may motivate less privileged patients to advocate less aggressively for antidepressant prescriptions.